Border Patrol Removes ICE Detainees After Protesters Block Buses For Several Hours in Oregon

Hundreds of protesters stopped two ICE buses for several hours in an attempt to block agents transporting two detainees at a parking lot in Bend, Oregon, on August 12, reports said.

This footage, posted to Twitter by Jackson McAffee, shows Border Patrol officers lifting one of the men above their shoulders because he is not wearing shoes.

A male bystander, who identifies himself as an attorney, is heard trying to make contact.

McAffee told Storyful he was not there to protest but to observe what was happening.

“When a whole bunch of federal officers came I knew it was getting pretty real,” McAffee said.

“When I saw how they were treating this man, I started to get a little mad. They dragged him off the bus, where he fell about four feet,” McAffee said.

Oregon Public Broadcasting said that the two men were detained on the morning of August 12, with social media reports leading people to descend on the buses at a hotel parking lot on Southwest Industrial Way.

The report said the men detained had lived in Oregon for more than a decade and family members were among the crowd that arrived.

Bend Mayor Sally Russell said on Twitter the men had warrants out for their arrest. “This is not a sweep for undocumented immigrants,” she wrote.

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said a federal agent called police to inform them there was a “group of community members blocking a bus that had two subjects that were under ICE custody inside of it.”

Police said they arrived on scene at around 1 pm but pulled back when federal agents came along.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that around 24 US Border Patrol officers arrived at the scene around 11 pm and pepper-sprayed at least three people before removing the two men from the buses.

Eyewitnesses said the men were placed into a van at the scene.

Protesters dispersed by around 2 am on August 13, police said.

“The two individuals arrested each had a history of criminal violent behavior,” an ICE spokeswoman told KTVZ. Credit: Jackson McAffee via Storyful